Bibliographic description: Lagoshina S. S., Chaplygina V. V. Analysis of the image of Koshchei Bessmertny and his possible prototypes // Young scientist. 2017. №2.2. S. 65-66..03.2019).
The article attempts to show the connection of the tale with the ancient Slavic epic, whose heroes were pagan gods and spirits, based on the analysis of the image of Koshchei the Immortal. Various versions are investigated regarding both the etymology of the name Koshchei and the origin of his image.
Keywords: Koschei the Immortal, fairy-tale character, mythology, prototypes, Karachun, Chernobog, Kasyan.
In a leap year, February 29, the most evil deity of Slavic mythology, Kashchei or Chernobog, is honored. It seemed that the fabulous image of Koshchei the Immortal could in no way be connected with a deity, albeit an evil one.
Who is behind the image of Koshchei the Immortal? Why is he associated with Chernobog? Do Koshchei have any more prototypes? All these questions prompted us to explore.
The appearance of Koshchei in fairy tales is rather fuzzy. We see Koshchei in the form of a king and a sorcerer of great power, often on horseback. Koshchei's dwelling is always very far away, whether it be a palace, a castle or a large house, in which there are untold riches. Koschey the Immortal has magical powers and is a powerful sorcerer. But still, Koshchei can be defeated.
The main feature of Koshchei the Immortal is that his death exists separately from him. She is in the egg, it also contains a needle, in which the end must be broken, which causes the quick death of Koshchei.
In the Old Russian language, there were many words consonant with the name of Koshchei: "bone", "blasphemers" - witchcraft, "kast" ("kas") - dirty tricks, "bone" or "bonfire" - scold, scold. Other scientists believed that the name of the living skeleton comes from a Turkic word meaning "slave, servant". There are suggestions that the name of Koshchei speaks of his wealth. In Old Russian, the word "kosh" meant "camp", "convoy", and the head of the convoy and the keeper of the treasury was called "kosh".
All this is in fairy tales. In some tales, Koschey “rattles his bones”, in others he “wasted away over gold”, protecting his wealth, in the third he is a prisoner.
There are different versions of the prototypes of Koshchei the Immortal.
One of the prototypes of Koshchei the Immortal - Karachun winter Slavic deity. Karachun-Koshchey is the god of death from cold. Karachun was born from a golden egg laid by the miracle hen Ryaba. According to the legends, everything appeared from the golden egg: not only Heaven and Earth, Day and Night, Good and Evil. Then Karachun went out of obedience - the cold became more and more unbearable, took away more and more lives. The time has come for people to leave their homeland, which was covered with ice. Leave after the fish, birds to a distant mainland. Terrible Karachun was served by snowstorm bears and blizzard wolves.
Some researchers believe that the image of Koshchei goes back to the ancient Slavic deity Chernobog. The name of this deity is mentioned in a number of chronicles after the adoption of Christianity in Rus'. In all legends, songs and tales, Chernobog appears as a kind of dark entity and the ruler of all the armies of the underworld, the underworld. Chernobog was also called the Black Serpent and Koshchei. Some myths say that Koschey is the son of Chernobog. Chernobog is able to change the flow of time: stop it, speed it up and turn it back. The Chernobog holiday is celebrated on February 29.
In the era of dual faith in Rus', the prototype of Koshchei - Saint Kasyan. Saint Cassian, who lived in the 5th century, became famous as a preacher of monastic life and the founder of monasteries in Gaul. Folk Russian traditions, legends and beliefs, made the image of St. Kasyan negative, although this real person lived a righteous life. Since the name day of the saint is celebrated on February 29, the image of Chernobog and Saint Casian seem to have “grown together”. The people called him Kasyan the Envious, Kasyan the Miserly, Kasyan the Terrible ... His appearance and character were disgusting. Squinting eyes and a deadly look. In Rus' they said: “Kasyan looks at the grass - the grass withers, at the cattle - the cattle dies, at the tree - the tree dries. Look at the people - it’s hard for the people. ” Therefore, on Kasyanov Day (Kashchiy Day) they were afraid to leave the house so as not to fall under the “eye of Kasyan”.
On Kasyanov's Day, the Slavs saw off the winter. According to Old Slavonic customs, exactly at midnight from February 29 to March 1, it was necessary to crush a raw chicken egg in your hand. It was believed that in this way Koshchei, whose death is hidden in the egg, comes to an end, and since Koschei symbolizes winter, winter also ends at the same time.
We conducted a comparative analysis of the image of Koshchei the Immortal and his possible prototypes and found out that Koshchei, Chernobog and Karachun have more in common than Kasyan and Koshchei. So, for example, the appearance is approximately the same for the first three characters, but Kasyan's appearance is different. The monastery served as a dwelling place for Saint Kasyan, because he was a monk, and even having lost his “holiness”, he did not go into the dungeon or dark kingdom, like Karachun, Chernobog or Koschey. Kasyan's connection with animals is not traced, except that "cattle dies" from his gaze.
Kasyan's resemblance to Karachun and Chernobog is manifested only in atrocities directed at people, and in the Koshcheev Day holiday.
We see that the people themselves united these images, naming them with the common name Koschey (Kashchey), endowing them with a terrible appearance and magical power of destruction. We believe that its prototypes at different times were Karachun (paganism) and Chernobog (it is mentioned after the adoption of Christianity). Kasyan as a prototype of Koshchei is less likely. So why did Koschey appear? No one ever dared to fight against Karachun or Chernobog, to oppose them, on the contrary, they set up idols for Chernobog and made sacrifices. The creation of a fabulous image of Koshchei, who can be defeated by a hero, was necessary in order to balance the anti-human image of the true Chernobog.
We conducted a survey among second grade students in order to determine what younger students know about this topic.
The results of the survey showed that everyone knows the version about the origin of the name Koshchei from the word "bone". Slightly less than half of the guys indicated knowledge of other versions. But almost no one knows about the prototypes of Koshchei, as well as about the Koshcheev Day holiday. So, I have something to tell my classmates about!
Literature:
- Folk Russian fairy tales by A. N. Afanasyev: In 3 volumes - M., 1957.
- Slavic mythology: Encyclopedic Dictionary / Nauch. Ed.: V. Ya. Petrukhin et al. - M., 1995.
3. Kalashnikov V. Russian demonology. Publisher: Lomonosov, 2014.
- Forgotten gods of the ancient Slavs. Karachun. Access mode: http://taynikrus.ru/
- Holiday kaleidoscope. Access mode: http://chippfest.blogspot.ru/
- Events calendar: Access mode: http://www.calend.ru/
- "Koschei the Immortal - a symbol of eternally losing evil." Access mode: http://www.echo.az
- Saint Kasyan and Kasyanov day. Access mode: http://novogodje.ru/svyatoj-kasyan-i-kasyanov-den.html
Keywords: Koschei the Immortal, fairy-tale character, mythology, prototypes, Karachun, Chernobog, Kasyan.
Annotation: The article attempts to show the connection between the fairy tale and the ancient Slavic epic, whose heroes were pagan gods and spirits, based on the analysis of the image of Koshchei the Immortal. Various versions have been investigated regarding both the etymology of the name Koshchei and the origin of his image.
Koschei the Deathless is one of the most famous anti-heroes in Russian fairy tales. And since a fairy tale is a greatly simplified myth, then this sorcerer is much more interesting than is usually shown in cartoons and movies.
Why was it called "Koshchey"?
The word "koshchei" is incredibly ancient. There is an assumption that it comes from the verb "koschevat", which means "conjure", "tell fortune". Also, according to some interpretations, it can mean "thin, pale as a bone." Which is consistent with the ideas about the appearance of the sorcerer. In Serbian, the word "koshchei" means "bone and skin". In Polish - neck. Probably the name wanted to emphasize the thinness of the character.
In fairy tales, there is no clear idea of how exactly Koschei the Deathless looks like. But they all agree that he was thin and very pale. He has a beard, but not lush and thick, but thin and thin. But this is not a required attribute. Most often in fairy tales, he appears on a horse, and sometimes as a king, and not just a sorcerer. His horse is often "burning". In fairy tales, such wonderful horses have fire coming from their hooves and manes, and steam coming out of their nostrils. In general, little attention was paid to the details of the external appearance. Apparently, it was enough for people of ancient times to say "sorcerer" and everyone knew exactly how he looked.
The power of Koshcheev
An important point for understanding the essence of Koshchei is the episode with his death. The death of a koshchei at the end of a needle, or just an egg. In this case, the needle is placed in several objects folded together. B.A. Rybakov believed that the location of Koshchei's death was correlated with the model of the universe - an egg - and emphasized that representatives of all sections of the world are its guardians: water (sea-ocean), land (island), plants (oak), animals (hare), birds ( duck) . Then, if you wish, you can see the inevitable "world tree" in the oak.
The needle itself in the mythology of the Slavs was considered an object that simultaneously removed damage, and at the same time, with its help, it was possible to magically harm. It was believed that witches were able to turn into a needle. And if the needle thrown with damage is broken, then witchcraft will disappear. The needle and other attributes of the koshchei are associated with the symbolism of death. Therefore, sometimes he is called the master of the kingdom of the dead. By the way, breaking the needle is the only way to defeat the sorcerer.
If we recall the approach to the interpretation of myths by A.A. Afanasyev, then Koschey is the embodiment of the formidable forces of nature. First of all darkness and winter. The story of the kidnapping of the bride is reminiscent of the story of the abduction of Persephone by Hades. This idea was submitted by Rybakov, but it is controversial.
Koschey the Deathless is a very powerful sorcerer. He is able to turn the whole kingdom into stone, as in the fairy tale "Ivan Sosnovich". In the fairy tale "Elena the Beautiful" turns Ivan Tsarevich into a nut. In another tale, according to his word, the princess becomes a snake.
In art
Georgy Millyar as Koshchei. 1944
Today we perceive the image of Koshchei the Immortal to a greater extent according to the samples of art where he ended up. Therefore, we will separately note them. From high it is Igor Stravinsky's ballet "Firebird". And the opera by Risky-Korsakov "Kashchei the Immortal". He also became a character in many books, one of the earliest was the historical fiction novel by Alexander Veltman "Koschey the Immortal" from 1833. And of course, the tales of Alexander Pushkin, thanks to whom a large number of folklore has been preserved.
Koschey the Immortal is one of the brightest fairy-tale characters, making an indelible impression on the listener, especially in the children's audience. Plots in which this image is present always make you empathize with the main character - Ivan Tsarevich, worry about his fate, since his opponent is strong, powerful and, it seems, invulnerable. In addition, from an ordinary point of view, the image of Koshchei in fairy tales is perceived as unambiguously negative. From the standpoint of the bearer of mythological consciousness, this definition should be put in quotation marks. Actually, the image of Koshchei the Immortal is one of the variants of the image of the hero’s opponent, without which the test could not have taken place, transferring the hero to a new stage of his fabulous life. The image of Koshchei, like Baba Yaga, has a mythological basis dating back to ancient times.
Koschei the Deathless. I. Bilibin (1901).
The name of this character deserves attention. The storytellers called him "Kashcha", "Kashch", "Kashcha". In Ukrainian fairy tales, the name Koschey has such vocalizations as “Kostya” or “Ko-st1y”, and turns out to be especially consonant with the word “bones”, which, probably, along with the obvious connection of this character with the idea of death, served as the basis for the later images of this a character, for example, in film adaptations of fairy tales, in the form of a thin, skeleton-like person. It is also indicative that in Russian folk dialects the word "Koshchei" means "a thin, skinny person, a walking skeleton." However, most likely, it has a foreign language origin. In the monuments of ancient Russian writing, the word “koshchei” is found with the meaning “lad, boy”, “captive, slave”, and researchers elevate it to the Turkic “Kos-th” - “slave”.
No less interesting and significant are the epithets that accompany the character's name, and are often perceived as an integral part of it. These are the definitions of "filthy", "soulless", "immortal". All of them, from the point of view of mythopoetic consciousness, make it possible to qualify Koshchei as a creature belonging to a “different” fairy-tale world. The epithet "nasty" indicates Koshchei's opposition to the "holy", Christian world, which reflects elements of the traditional worldview relating to the religious sphere at a certain stage of historical reality. In the epic reality, where archaic ideas about “one's own” and “alien” are reproduced, it is a sign that characterizes the characters of the “foreign” world. The terms "soulless" and "immortal" refer to the distinguishing features of Koshchei, which reflect the mythological nature of his image and, more narrowly, his otherworldly origin.
The perception of Koshchei the Immortal as a representative of the "other" world, the world of death, is indicated by the characteristics of his location. Koshchei's kingdom is very far away: the hero has to go to "cover the world, to the very end" of it. The longest, most difficult and dangerous of all paths leads there: the hero wears out iron boots, an iron frock coat and an iron hat, eats three iron loaves; he has to overcome numerous obstacles, turn to assistants for advice and help, fight against an insidious enemy, and even die and be resurrected. The dwelling of Koshchei the Immortal is depicted in a fairy tale as a palace, a castle, a large house, "a ta-terka - golden windows." Here are untold riches - gold, silver, scat pearls, which the hero, after defeating the enemy, takes from his kingdom. According to researchers, the golden color of objects in the mythopoetic consciousness is perceived as a sign of the other world. The same applies to the image of the glass mountains, where, according to some texts of fairy tales, the palace of Koshchei the Immortal is located.
Koshchei's belonging to the "other" world can be traced in a line that brings him closer to the image of Baba Yaga. Like Baba Yaga, he detects the presence of a person in his house by smell, and storytellers use the same formulas to describe this moment: “Fu-fu-fu, something in the upper room smells of Russian spirit” - or: “Fu -ugh! You can’t hear the Russian scythe, you can’t see it in sight, but the Russian scythe itself came into the yard. As in the case of Baba Yaga, the expression “Russian scythe” characteristic of a Russian fairy tale means a person in general as a representative of an alien epic tribe.
The appearance of Koshchei in fairy tales is rather fuzzy. In the texts, there is usually no complete portrait of this character, but only individual characteristics are found, mostly clearly indicating the mythological nature of the image. One of the most frequently mentioned signs is age. Koschei the Immortal is depicted as an old, "gray-haired old man", "a decrepit person". Often there is an indication that he has a long beard - in the traditional mind, it is also an indicator of old age. Sometimes in fairy tales, the length of Koshchei's beard exceeds his height, while he himself turns out to be incredibly small: "himself with a cocotte, a beard with an elbow." It should be mentioned that in fairy tales there is an independent character whose appearance is described by the same formula. Usually his role in the plot is to detain and imprison the protagonist's brothers, who cannot cope with the trials he has proposed. This little old man, but possessing magical powers, like Koshchei the Immortal, can only be overcome by a real hero. The mythological characteristics of Koshchei include features characteristic of animals: he has “fangs like a boar”. The image of Koshchei the Immortal is endowed with another sign that is significant from the point of view of mythological thinking. This is blindness, which in mythopoetic texts is a sign that a character belongs to the other world. In one of the Siberian tales, Koschey says to his assistants: “Seven children! Bring me a seven pitchfork, raise my heavy eyebrows. I'll see how far Neugomon-Tsarevich is going. This description undoubtedly resembles the image of Viy from the story of the same name by N. V. Gogol. It is known that the writer, when creating his work, used the traditional ideas about the blind and omnipotent demon of darkness.
Let's look at other characteristics of the character, dating back to ancient mythological ideas. In many fairy tales, Koschey the Immortal does not walk, does not ride, but flies like a bird or a whirlwind, which resembles the Serpent Gorynych. Koshchei's flight causes violent changes in the state of nature: "Suddenly thunder rumbles, hail is coming, Koschei the Deathless is flying." Moreover, often the movement of Koshchei in the air leads to destructive actions in the natural space: "leaves flew from the trees, the terrible wind Kashchei flies."
Koschey the Immortal is endowed with great power in fairy tales. From one of his breath, heroes-heroes "fly like mosquitoes." Koschey is able to raise a sword "five hundred pounds", fight with the hero all day and win. In some stories, he, like Baba Yaga, cuts strips of “belts” from the backs of strong heroes. At the same time, Koshchei's strength is not limitless. Moreover, as can be seen from fairy tales, both his strength and himself can be destroyed under certain circumstances. In some tales, Koschei appears in the story as a prisoner. The reason for his capture is an unlucky matchmaking for the heroine - the future wife of the protagonist. The heroine-bride turns out to be stronger than Koshchei the Immortal, which confirms her unusual origin. She puts Koshchei in the cellars "for the steps" - courtship or for the fact that he sewed her shoes less than necessary. In prison, he hangs for many years (thirty-six) on twelve chains, stands on a board of fire, burns in a fire or sits in a boiling cauldron and does not receive any food. The mythological nature of Koshchei is evidenced by the fact that he, hanging by a thread, burning in a fire or boiling in a cauldron, does not die: after all, he is immortal. Exhausted from hunger and thirst, Koschei only loses his extraordinary strength. True, she returns to him, as soon as he drinks water.
Koschey. I. Golovin. Costume design for the opera Mlada by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1924).
Unusual gluttony is attributed to Koshchei the Immortal in fairy tales, which probably helps to maintain his strength. For example, he eats a dinner prepared for three heroes-heroes, he can drink a bucket and even a barrel of water or wine at once, eat half a bull. Exorbitant gluttony brings his image closer to mythological ideas about death, the essence of which is characterized by a constant feeling of hunger.
As a fairy-tale character belonging to the “other” world, Koschey the Immortal is the owner of not only untold riches, but also wonderful things. So, he has a magic sword Sam-samosek, there is also an unusual horse. The horse of Koshchei the Immortal is endowed with various fantastic abilities. He is prophetic: he warns his master three times that Ivan Tsarevich has taken away his captive. Another ability of the horse is unimaginable speed; the head start given to the runaway hero by a horse is described in a fairy tale by listing the processes of growing and processing bread, which in reality capture almost the entire time of the annual cycle: “You can sow wheat, wait until it grows, compress it, grind it, turn it into flour , cook five ovens of bread, eat that bread, and then go after it - and then we’ll be in time ”- or:“ You can sow barley, wait until it grows, squeeze it, grind it, brew beer, get drunk, get enough sleep, and then go after - and then we'll hurry!
In addition to "material" values and magical items, Koschey the Immortal has power over the life and death of people, which brings him closer to the image of personified death. So, with the help of magical influence, he can turn all living things into stone. In fairy tales where he appears as a prisoner, the main character usually violates the ban on entering the dungeon, and Koschey promises to save him from three deaths for satisfying his thirst and hunger. In one version of the fairy tale, Koschey, turning to the hero for help, says: “If, well done, you let me down from the board, I’ll add two centuries to you!” Freed from captivity, Koschey keeps his promise until the hero tries to free his wife or bride from him for the third time.
The main feature of Koshchei the Immortal, which distinguishes him from other fairy tale characters, is that his death
(soul, power) is materialized in the form of an object and exists separately from it. She is in the egg, which is hidden in a certain place. This place in mythopoetic representations is comprehended as an otherworldly space belonging to "other" worlds - upper or lower: "There is an island on the sea on the ocean, on that island there is an oak tree, a chest is buried under an oak tree, in a chest - a hare, in a hare - a duck, duck has an egg. Sometimes in fairy tales it is said that the box or chest with Koshcheev's death is on the oak, and the oak is on the mountain or in the field, and "Kashchey protects that tree like his own eye." Koshcheev's death is located where "no one walks, no one rides." And Koschey himself carefully keeps the secret of his death, which makes him invulnerable to enemies. Only a true hero can find and get Koshchei's death. And then, as is known from fairy tales, he is usually helped by magical animals, whom he spared in his time. In mythological consciousness, these animals, as a rule, correspond to three zones of vertical division of world space: sky, earth and water, that is, the underworld. Most often it is: an eagle, a hawk, a raven; bear, dog, fox; pike or just fish, cancer, drake.
The removal of the egg with Koshcheev's death from the place where it rests immediately affects his condition: he falls ill, he becomes ill, he falls into bed. It gets even worse when the hero does some kind of manipulation with this egg, which is very vividly depicted in a fairy tale:
Ivan Tsarevich took out an egg from his bosom and showed Koshchei: “What is this?” In Koshchei, the light in his eyes clouded, he immediately calmed down - he submitted. Ivan Tsarevich shifted the egg from hand to hand - Koshchei the Immortal was thrown from corner to corner. It seemed to the tsarevich any pleasure, let's shift from hand to hand more often; shifted and shifted and completely crushed - then Koschei fell down and died. In different versions of the tale, the hero breaks an egg, hitting it on Koshchei's chest or forehead, hitting it against a stone, sword or his own head, throwing the egg into the fire or into Koshchei's "myalo" (mouth).
Researchers correlate the fabulous image of Koshcheev's death in an egg with a complex of archaic ideas about the so-called world egg, or cosmic egg. In the mythopoetic traditions of many peoples, the image of the cosmic egg acts as a symbol of the source of creative power and is associated with the idea of creation in a broad sense, including the world space. It is no coincidence that in folklore texts it is often through him that spatial and temporal structures are depicted. An example of the emergence of space from an egg and its inclusion in this object can be a fairy tale story about three kingdoms: copper, silver and gold, which are folded by their hostesses-princesses, respectively, into a copper, silver and gold egg, and when necessary they unfold. The designation of time and its division with the help of this image is present in the texts of riddles: “There is a beam across all of Rus', there are twelve nests on this beam, four eggs in each nest, and seven chickens in each egg” (the answer is a year, months, weeks , days). The beginning of creation in the mythologies of some peoples is associated with the fact that the world egg splits, explodes. Sometimes various incarnations of evil forces are born from it, for example, death. Above, in one of the sections of the book, the fabulous image of Death, which the soldier locks in a nutlet, and then releases, has already been mentioned. The image of Koshcheeva's death in the egg is put by the researchers in the same typological series with the given examples. The idea of creation, the initiation of life, in a certain sense, is also correlated with the motive for the destruction of Koshchei's death, which is contained in an egg. Extracting her from the egg and thereby destroying Koshchei turns out to be the destruction of the obstacle to connecting the hero and heroine. Only after the death of Koshchei, the test of the hero is considered passed, and the spell of the heroine-bride is lifted. From that moment on, they both enter a new stage of life - marriage, the purpose of which, according to traditional ideas, is the continuation of the family, that is, life. This idea is consistent with the wedding ceremonies that persisted until the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century in the Russian and many other cultural traditions of Western European peoples. So, for example, in the Yaroslavl province, when newlyweds met after the wedding, they were served an egg cut in half, and this was their first meal together. In Ugric Rus', the first food that the newlyweds ate consisted of eggs and boiled milk. In the Oryol province, when going to the crown, they took a loaf with them, in which they laid a couple of eggs. Among the Bulgarians, before leaving for the church, the mother, in order to ensure the fertility of a young and easy birth, put a raw egg in the bride's bosom, which was broken on the threshold. In some regions of Romania, the bride, leaving her home, stepped on the egg; it was believed that this would facilitate childbirth and bring health to the child.
Returning to the image of Koshchei the Immortal, it should be noted that there are plots in which his death occurs from a blow with the hoof of a magic horse specially obtained by the hero. The task of getting such a horse, which would not only not be inferior to Koshcheev's horse, but also surpass it in strength and speed, is accessible only to a true hero. Such a horse or foal grazes in a herd of wonderful mares, which is run by Baba Yaga or Koshchei's mother. The mare, from which the magical foal is born, “walks across the sea, and twelve regiments of wolves follow her. And she only happens to be a foal for one hour. And there is an azure tree beyond the sea. She will run under this tree, all the same, like the wind, she will lie down now, in one minute she will foal, she will run away again. Now the wolves: twelve regiments of wolves will come running and this foal will be torn to pieces. Only no one can get it!” To get this foal, the hero needs to graze an unusual herd for three days. As in the case of getting death in an egg, here animals grateful to him help the hero: they collect the scattered herd. The “lousy” foal obtained by the hero is transformed into a strong and powerful horse after three dawns graze it in a special way: on barley, on wheat and on oats. Koshchei's death comes when the magic horse of Ivan Tsarevich beats him in the forehead with a hoof. Sometimes, during the flight, Koshchei is thrown from a great height by his own horse, which, on the move, colludes with his younger brother, the horse of Ivan Tsarevich. Koschey, falling from his horse, hits the ground and dies. In some versions of the tale, Koschey sits down on the winged horse Ivan Tsarevich, specially set up for him, and falls when the owner of the horse says: “Oh, Horse, raise your novice to the heavens and smash him to smithereens.”
What is the role of Koshchei the Immortal in the fairy tale? It is known from the texts that his usual activities are that he flies around Rus', "goes to war", leaves "for prey" or hunting, "staggers around the free world." As part of the development of the plot of the tale, Koschey acts as a formidable opponent of the protagonist. The conflict between them always arises because of the heroine-bride: Koschei is the kidnapper of the hero's bride. Sometimes in a fairy tale there is no motivation for the kidnapping. More often, the heroine's falling under the power of Koshchei is associated with a violation by the protagonist of any prohibition relating to the pre-wedding or post-wedding period. This, for example, is a violation of the requirement of the wife (or bride) to her husband (or groom) to enter one of the premises of the house: the basement or pantry. Failure to comply with this prohibition leads to the fact that Koschey is released from the closed room, forcibly captures the heroine and takes him to his kingdom: "The old man hit the ground, faked Elena the Beautiful from the garden and took him away." Often there is also a ban on burning the skin of an enchanted or cursed frog princess before the expiration of a certain period:
The ball is over, go to the hall. The [frog princess] looks - there is no skin. “What are you, Ivan Tsarevich, why did you burn my skin?” - "I wanted to have such a wife." “Well, my dear, we must part with you. So I can't live here anymore. I will go to Kashchei the Deathless. - "Why?" - “Yes, there are six months left to wear the skin. This skin is doomed by my own mother. She cursed me. And now it remains for me to go to Kashchei the Deathless. The captives of Koshchei are divided mainly into two types. Some humble themselves and become his wives, although they do not love him and seek to free themselves from this connection when a hero appears as a savior. In some stories, Koshchei's daughters are subject to Koshchei, who, at the first opportunity, at the cost of the death of their own father, marry the hero. Representatives of another type of captives hold themselves independently in relation to their captor and boldly reject his harassment. They perceive marriage with Koshchei as death, even worse than death. So one of the captive heroines says to her fiancé Ivan Tsarevich about Koshchei:
“does not give peace, forces me to marry him and be a faithful wife. But I do not want to be his faithful wife, but I want to accept certain death. Most often, captives in Koshchei's chambers are engaged in spinning, sewing, and embroidering. All these are occupations that in traditional culture were assigned to the socio-age statuses of a girl who has reached marriageable age and a prostitute, or bride. In the fairy tale, the heroine's stay in the kingdom of Koshchei, as in a place isolated from the ordinary world, correlates with such a phenomenon of reality as part of the wedding cycle, as an unspoken ban for a betrothed girl to leave her home before the wedding day. When, in the course of a fairy tale story, a hero-groom appears near the kingdom of Koshcheev, the heroines of any of the noted types use cunning as a weapon against the kidnapper: they try to find out where his death is. Here is how it is portrayed in one of the tales:
Koshshey comes running in the evening. She [dawn-dawn] was merry. “Ah, you are my dear fiance! Today we will live forever with you. Now Ivan the Tsar's son - there are no golden curls, there is no one to kidnap me. You don't explain your secrets." - “I will explain some secrets to you?” - he answers. - “Yes, at least tell me your death, at least admire it,” he says. In the fairy-tale motif of trying to find out the place of Koshchei's death, in fact, the contest between the captive and the kidnapper in cunning is realized. Koschey gives false answers: death is in a broom, the horns of a motley cow and similar objects, and the heroine does not show the appearance that she does not believe him, and performs actions, looking at which Koschey is amused: “Oh, you foolish woman! The hair is long, but the mind is short. But the captive's patience and cunning are eventually rewarded: for the third time, Koschei tells the truth about his death.
Based on a comparison of the Russian fairy tale with international ethnographic material, the researchers came to the conclusion that the image of Koshchei the kidnapper, like Baba Yaga, goes back to the figure of the initiator in the system of archaic rites of marriage initiation. The fairy-tale heroine, the bride or the young wife, “receives initiation” in the kingdom of Koshchei, and only after that does she return to the groom or husband, who has a human nature. In the rites of initiation, the figure of the initiator, the fact that the initiates were turned off from the familiar environment, and the very state of the subject in the process of initiation, in accordance with the mythological consciousness, were associated with a complex of ideas about death, more precisely, temporary death. All these archaic notions are reflected in mythopoetic texts, to which the fairy tale belongs. Hence the image of Koshchei the Deathless is so clearly connected with the idea of death, both real and symbolic: the heroine-bride is isolated in his kingdom, a kingdom of the “other” world type, that is, the world of death. The loss of understanding of the meaning of certain rites led to a change in the assessment of the image of the initiator. In fairy-tale reality, due to the sign of involvement in the other world, which is not subjected to evaluative characteristics within the framework of ethnographic reality, he received new coverage and, undoubtedly, began to be perceived as a dark force hostile to man, as a dangerous demonic creature.
Koschey the Immortal is not the only character who kidnaps brides and women. This category of fairy-tale images also includes the Serpent, birds such as Raven Voronovich, a bear and similar characters.
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Koschei the Immortal. One of the main villains of Russian folk tales. A very powerful wizard, who could only be defeated by breaking a well-hidden needle. In addition to Russian fairy tales, his image can also be traced in Western fantasy. The same Sauron with death in the ring or Lord Voldemort with his Horcruxes
But this is a separate topic for discussion. Back to our cinema
The first image of Kashchei the Immortal was embodied on the screen by Georgy Millyar in the fairy tale of the same name by Alexander Row in 1944
For me, this is one of the best images of a classic villain, embodied on the screen by a master of evil spirits (but he did Baba Yaga even better)
The second appearance on the screen was almost imperceptible. Evgeny Lebedev flashed in this role in the film "Rimsky-Korsakov"
It was even more likely not the role of Koshchei, but the role of the actor who played Kashchei in the opera of the great composer
In the film "Fire, Water and ... Copper Pipes" his Kashchei had nothing to do with the first villain. He was much more comical
The next Kashchei was Fyodor Nikitin in the fairy tale "Merry Magic"
This was the first transfer of the fairy tale to the present and Kashchei was hiding in it under the guise of an accountant
Another comical Kashchei appeared in the New Year's revue "New Year's Adventures of Masha and Vitya"
The role of the villain in this film was played by Nikolai Boyarsky (known for his role as Adam Kozlevich in The Golden Calf) - the uncle of Mikhail Boyarsky (who also played Matvey the cat in this tale)
Oleg Tabakov's Kashchei in the film "After the rain on Thursday" is more original and far from the classic image
Another, more classic Kashchei (but also modernized) appeared on the screen in the fairy tale "They sat on the golden porch" and was played by Viktor Sergachev
"Purple Ball" is not quite a fairy tale, it's kind of like a fantasy based on a book by Kira Bulychev. But there was also Kashchei. And Igor Yasulovich played it
The last Soviet Kashchei was played by Valery Ivchenko in "The Tale of the Painter in Love"
After that, they forgot about the fairy tales for a long time and remembered Kashchei only in 2004, when the film "The Legend of Kashchei or In Search of the Thirtieth Kingdom" was released on the screens. In it, young Kashchei was played by Anatoly Smiranin
and the old Alexei Petrenko
To my shame, I confess - I did not even know about the existence of this film. I will make up
Another modern Kashchei in the same 2004 was played by Nodar Mgaloblishvili in the film "Miracles in Reshetov"
In 2009, Gosha Kutsenko became the villain in the first Russian film from Disney, The Book of Masters.
And in a fierce trash called "Adventures in the Thirtieth Kingdom" he was played by Evgeny Shchetinin
Another image of Kashchei in our time was embodied by Leonid Yarmolnik in the film "A Real Tale"
Well, the last image of the fabulous villain in the cinema today was Konstantin Lavronenko's Kashchei in the new film "The Last Hero" (again from Disney)
To be honest, I haven't seen it yet, so I can't say anything about it.
Frames from feature films used
"Kashchei the Immortal", directed by Alexander Rou
"Rimsky-Korsakov", directed by Grigory Roshal, Gennady Kazansky
"Fire, water and ... copper pipes", directed by Alexander Rowe
Merry Magic directed by Boris Rytsarev
"New Year's Adventures of Masha and Viti", directed by Igor Usov, Gennady Kazansky
"There, on unknown paths...", directed by Mikhail Yuzovsky
"After the rain on Thursday", directed by Mikhail Yuzovsky
"They sat on the golden porch", directed by Boris Rytsarev
"Purple Ball", directed by Pavel Arsenov
"The Tale of a House Painter in Love", directed by Nadezhda Kosheverova
"The Legend of Kashchei or In Search of the Thirtieth Kingdom", directed by Valery Tkachev
Miracles in Reshetov, directed by Mikhail Levitin
The Book of Masters, directed by Vadim Sokolovsky
"Adventures in the Thirtieth Kingdom", directed by Valeria Ivanovskaya
"A Real Tale", directed by Andrey Marmontov
"The Last Hero", directed by Dmitry Dyachenko
